The Japanese company Space One's rocket exploded shortly after its maiden lift-off on Wednesday at 11:01 a.m. (02:01 GMT), as per Japanese media reports.
The 18-meter (59 ft) solid-fuel Kairos rocket took off from the company's launch platform in the mountainous Kii Peninsula in Japan's western Wakayama region.
However, the spacecraft exploded roughly five seconds later, accompanied by plumes of white smoke billowing and burning fragments dispersed near the launch site. Also destroyed in the incident was a state test satellite weighing 100 kg attached to the rocket.
“The launch of the first Kairos rocket was executed, but we took a measure to abort the flight,” according to a statement by Space One.
The launch services provider stated that the lift-off was well-automated and required only a few personnel to man its ground control center. However, the incident dashed the company's hopes of becoming the first private Japanese company to launch a satellite into orbit.
According to news outlets, Space One stated that the launch was "interrupted" after takeoff and that the "details are being investigated." However, the immediate cause of the explosion is unknown.
The governor of Wakayama Prefecture, Shuhei Kishimoto, told the press that there were no casualties in the incident, and the resultant inferno had been extinguished. Katsumasa Tashima, the mayor of Kushimoto, where the botched launch occurred, expressed shock and dismay over the explosion and pledged that the town "will continue to support Space One."
Wakayama's governor told the media that the Kairos rocket's initial launch was slated for March 9 at 11:01 a.m. local time (02:01 GMT), but was postponed after a vessel sailed into a nearby restricted, high-risk maritime zone.
Space One was founded in 2018 by a consortium of Japanese tech establishments, including Canon Electronics, IHI Aerospace, the state-owned Development Bank of Japan, and the construction company Shimizu. Mitsubishi UFJ and Mizuho, two of Japan's largest banks, also own minority shares in the space company.
The Japanese space launch service firm aims to become a cost-effective, "world’s shortest lead time" commercial lift-off service for domestic and international clients. By the late 2020s, it intends to send 20 rockets into orbit yearly.
In July 2023, a Japanese rocket, the solid-fuel Epsilon S, blew up during a test about 50 seconds after ignition.
Japan's two primary rocket launch pads, the Tanegashima Space Center and Uchinoura Space Center in southern Japan, host JAXA's H3 and the Epsilon vital launch vehicles. However, according to media reports, these sites cannot accommodate commercial launches.